In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Michael Blackman, MD, medical director of population health and analytics at Allscripts.
Dr. Blackman will speak on a panel during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference titled "Determining Where to Invest for IT in Your Organization’s Strategic Plans and Goals," at 1:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.
Question: What’s the biggest misconception about health IT?
Dr. Michael Blackman: That health IT itself can solve an issue. Health IT provides tools, which the industry is continually working to improve and expand, but those tools alone are not enough to obtain the desired and improved outcome. The key is using the tools within an appropriate workflow that supports end users. Often, strong change management is also required. Finally, the most successful clinically- related projects are managed as clinical or quality improvement projects with health IT playing a supporting role rather than being managed as IT projects.
Q: What is the biggest barrier to price transparency in the healthcare industry?
MB: We have come a long way over the past several years toward providing better price transparency. For many, though, that information can still be difficult to find. Once one does find that information, a secondary challenge remains: how to interpret it. Prices can vary widely, so to interpret them one truly needs quality data associated with the prices to make an informed decision. Healthcare consumers are trying to determine what they will pay in conjunction with the likely outcome and quality of service. Going forward, we need to continue working to provide the quality of the information, in addition to the calculations that help consumers understand what they will pay considering their specific circumstances.
Q: Can you share your best advice for motivating your teams?
MB: Especially in healthcare, most achievements are reached through a team effort. When I was practicing full time, I didn’t care for patients on my own; I had a talented team of nurses, pharmacists, case managers and others working with me. Now, in health IT, I still drive to keep the focus on the patient, reminding my teams that everything we do ultimately affects someone’s family member — perhaps theirs. None of us can do this alone.